Alarm SHock Sensor Upgrade
 

For those of you who ordered the Alarm Shock Sensor Upgrade and experience a problem where the "Door Ajar" light keeps flashing on and off when going over even small bumps, please note:
The door adjustments and door swithches are fine. (We ound that out after the dealer replaced both switches in tracking down the culprit.
It turjns out that the problem was that the shock sensor was "dialed in" too fine. Once it was adjusted, the problem dissapeared.

Anyone know where to get these ? I would like to install them on mine, and do not know where to buy & if I can do the work myself.

call me a noob but, what do these upgrades do? do they just allow you to fine tune the sensitivity of the alarm already on the RX-8?

The installed alarm sounds when the trunk, hood, or doors are forced open. I believe its called a single stage alarm. Dual stage alarms include a shock sensor which are activated by force applied to the car. So if someone hits your car the alarms sounds. There are other sensors out there like one for motion which can detect if someone is standing next to your car, gives a warning beep, and the sounds if they don't back off (had one in my Miata and it was helpful if I left the top down) and sound sensors that can tell if the glass has been smashed but ignores other background noise.

If you get their shock sensor I'd get it dealer installed cuz if it breaks you can go back to them. Fairly delicate equipment.

I'm looking at relpacing the stock alarm w/one from viper(DEI) to get better protection features.

I ordered my car with the upgrade, does the system vibrate the keypad when its going off. If not is there anyway to install such a transmitter?

boo, how much did you pay for install? None of the dealers around here know how long it's gonna take to install the shock sensor. They're quoting me 4 hours at $75 an hour. Is this right?

Mine also does not know how long to install it. If it is that expensive, then it is not worth it!

Mine was Added on to my MSRP as a 60$ option so that best include labor..... still my pervious question about vibration?

don't think you can get vibration w/mazda alarm. check Viper or Clifford alarms. I think a lojack will page you. 4 hrs is insane for a simple install of adding a sensor...you can get a complete clifford alarm with a shock sensor and a motion detector for that amount!

It was funny, the yellow RX-8 I checked out yesterday had the sensor upgrade available. I just walked up to it to check it out and it beeped at me causing me to jump a little bit... Then I remembered this thread and chuckled.

Sounds more like a motion sensor which is differnt. Unless a big truck was passing by and activated the shock sensor. I think that will be my first upgrade, an after market alarm.

Okay, Boowana, here's one for ya. I installed my shock sensor a little while ago. Now when I close the front doors, the courtesy lights flicker on and off rapidly, accompanied by clicking noises. This lasts for about a second or so. Is this normal?

Edit: Okay, went back and played with it some. It was giving me X# of clicks/flashes. I turned the sensitivity all the way down, and got 4 clicks/flashes. I turned it back up a bit, and now I get 3 clicks/flashes. Any thoughts?

I also get three flashes with mine. The dealer installed it, so I don't know what the sensitivity is set to. Where does it get installed?

It is installed up in the passenger footwell. Look at this thread for photos. Thanks for replying. I feel much better knowing that a dealer-installed unit behaves the same way. I read the instructions again, and I had it backwards - turning clockwise INCREASES the sensitivity. I had it maxed out. I will fiddle with it some more at work.

Port Installed
 

I had mine installed at the port as a $60.00 option as well. I still don't know if it's working right.

The clicking and flashing of the lights was occuring whenever I wne to ver a bump. The dealer was able to "dial down" the sensitivity but it still will occassionally flash and click on certain bumps.
I am waiting til my first service to have it checked.
It seems to me that it should not do anything if your driving down the road and it should arm itself only when the ignition is off.
I hope to find out what the proper funstion of this is from mazda and will report back anything I find. I'm not even sure what it's supposed to do.
Oh well...:eek:

I adjusted the sensitivity a bit more at work today. I gradually backed it down just until I could shut the doors firmly without the light show. So far so good. I was still able to firmly smack the windshield with the palm of my hand and trip the alarm. I think I'll leave it at this setting for now, until we get more info.

B-nez will the alarm go off if you key your car not just the motion detector, but the shock alarm? ..... i suppose only 1 way to find out :p

Hmmm...let me go check...syke! I doubt the sensitivity is even capable of being set high enough to be triggered by a key slash. Now, a key jab maybe. :D

With the shock sensor, is there an easy way to turn off the shock sensing when you dont need it? And also, if the alarm were to be set off in a large parking lot where you have no idea that it was set off, how long would it take before the alarm ceases, or would it just run down your battery? Im asking because in certain situations, accidents can happen, and alarms can become really annoying, likewise, if you are at a friends house or something, it would be nice to know that there is an easy way to turn off the shock sensing.